Feather star diary...

[Gweeds1980]

Day 17... FS is fine... still no arms dropped

Moved again... This time right behind the rockwork!

 

[AcroNem]

Day 17... FS is fine... still no arms dropped

Moved again... This time right behind the rockwork!

Good to hear! Have you been able to find a source for that algae paste? Also is it still showing a quick feeding response?

 

[Gweeds1980]

Thanks, yes, a company called reefphyto in the UK supply it.

Feeding response was good when I last saw, yesterday. Arms spread out and straight within seconds of food being added. Can't see it all today, just put a mirror in to view it just now!

 

[Gweeds1980]

Ok, update time and a plea for help...

FS is all good... still no arms dropped and good feeding response. Not going to call this a success but we're nearly at a month stage and looking good so far

Now, I do have a major issue... smell! I'm mixing the food up with water and then dosing daily. I need a 24 hour solution with as little maintenance as possible, but need to keep food in the tank for nearly 24 hours a day.

At the moment my daily regime is:
Empty surplus food from container.
Clean out container with h2o2 and hot water and a good scrub.
Remove lines from dosing pump and rinse in h2o2 and hot water.
Add new food to container, reattach dosing lines after priming with food.

The issue is I'm having to replace dosing lines every other day, clean the doser head every other day and STILL the smell is awful!! There's a bacterial film building up in the dosing lines and head, which is feeding on decaying food and honestly, for anyone who has smelt a decomposing body up close... the smell is identical, with a dash of rotten fish added. It gets worse throughout the day, so by evening you can barely be in the same room. I have all the doors and windows open, which is fine in summer, but in another month won't be possible... to say my wife is unhappy would be an epic understatement!!

I tried switching cleaning to the evening, but that just means in smells bad in the morning and by the time we get home from work it's unbearable...

I need another solution but am out of ideas!!

I knew this guy would take a lot of upkeep, but really wasn't anticipating this smell... it's getting into our soft furnishings too... at this rate the FS will become the most expensive pet in the world as we'll have to replace all our furniture every month!

Would be really good to hear from anyone who keeps NPS systems, anyone who doses liquid food every few hours, anyone who uses golden pearls (That seems to be the major contributing factor)... if I can't fix this I may also need to hear from anyone with a good divorce lawyer!!

 

[4FordFamily]

I'm impressed so far, sorry I'm no hope at all with your current conundrum but I wanted to share with ya!

 

[keddre]

Is your whole system closed? Try putting it in a bottle with no holes but the out take, or a piece of cotton. Then put the output in the water directly. If it isn't exposed to smell that might help.

Another way would be to keep the food cold. You could try an automatic food feeder with a refrigerator or putting the mix you are making in a cooler with ice. Put the mix in a bottle, then surround the bottle with ice

Edit: ignore the first one, that wouldn't work. Try the cotton, fridge or ice method

PS: the cooler our fridge would be idea. Keep it cold and slow down decomposition

 

[Gweeds1980]

Put the mix in a bottle, then surround the bottle with ice

I like this!! I will have to try this... I'm thinking if i put the ice in a cool box it should last 24 hours... now to find space in my cabinet for a cool box lol.

 

[eatbreakfast]

Could you freeze the food into medium to large ice cubes and place over the tank. As it thaws the foods drop into the tank. This allows gradual and near constant feeding, but also keeps it at a temp that will limit smells.

 

[AcroNem]

I think the open system could be the big issue, my whole system is closed. I also feed some of the same foods. And while mine doesn't smell like a rotting corpse, the only time it smells is when I've neglected cleaning the reactor a few days and open it up. I'd try to close it off. Or if that's not an option try to leep it cold as others have suggested. Also congrats on not having any limbs lost so far!

 

[Bongo Shrimp]

FS is all good... still no arms dropped and good feeding response. Not going to call this a success but we're nearly at a month stage and looking good so far

When you pass the year - year and a half mark we can start talking about success. I've seen a lot of people hit the year - year and half mark and then experience a sudden loss. It seems they can take that long to fully starve or to slowly starve. Some of the arm repair people see early on when they first acquire a crinoid is likely a result of them being in good condition prior to being added to an aquarium.

Keep taking notes here because this is a good record for others to reference no matter which direction this goes in the long term and good luck because the red ones seem to be the most difficult among the crinoids collected for the trade. As a disclaimer for others, its best not to acquire these animals unless the system is designed for them. They are not an animal that can be thrown in a tank with just the hopes that it may survive.

 

[Gweeds1980]

When you pass the year - year and a half mark we can start talking about success. I've seen a lot of people hit the year - year and half mark and then experience a sudden loss. It seems they can take that long to fully starve or to slowly starve. Some of the arm repair people see early on when they first acquire a crinoid is likely a result of them being in good condition prior to being added to an aquarium.

Keep taking notes here because this is a good record for others to reference no matter which direction this goes in the long term and good luck because the red ones seem to be the most difficult among the crinoids collected for the trade. As a disclaimer for others, its best not to acquire these animals unless the system is designed for them. They are not an animal that can be thrown in a tank with just the hopes that it may survive.

Completely agree! As stated at the beginning of this I think, I know I should never have bought it!

 

[Florida Sunshine]

Kudos to you for trying your best to provide as close to optimal conditions for this animal as you can. Even though you state you should never have bought it you certainly have not just thrown it in the tank hoping it will survive.
I almost bought one once, but stopped to research it first and was very glad I did because I am not nearly as dedicated as you are.

 

[Bongo Shrimp]

Completely agree! As stated at the beginning of this I think, I know I should never have bought it!

I read it and I wasn't directing that part of my post at you. Unfortunately I've seen a lot of people just throw them in their tanks and say "oh well".

 

[mort]

As you might remember I used the frozen popsicle method and this stopped the smell for me. I also used a poly box to contain the food reservoir on another project. You can punch a small hole for the feed line and add ice if needed but I also used carbon towards the top which sucks up some of the smell as well. As the box is quite air tight its pretty effective.
How far is the tank from the outside. You might be able to rig it like an extended skimmer intake.

 

[Breadman03]

I like this!! I will have to try this... I'm thinking if i put the ice in a cool box it should last 24 hours... now to find space in my cabinet for a cool box lol.

Reefsicle frozen feeder from MACNA 2016. Think melting popsicle.

 

[Gweeds1980]

Ok, so I've gone back to basics... the smell was getting me down so badly... not enough space for a Cool box in the cabinet (can't be next to the tank due to dog, or above it due to open top and lights). So I've mixed up a batch, put it in the fridge and am manually adding 4 40ml doses per day, I then have the skimmer on a timer and it only comes on for 4 hours during the day and 2 hours at night, going off just before feed times. I'm feeding when I first get up (6 - 6.30am, again before I leave for work @8.30am, when I return home around 3.30 - 5.30pm and again before I go to bed 11pm - midnight) skimmer is set to come on at 11.30am and go off at 3.30pm, on again at 4am until 6am.

The smell obviously has gone, there seems to be particles of food available 24/7 and the FS is still exhibiting a good feeding response. I'll try to post a pic later, but has kept in a really inaccessible part of the tank!

I've also added NT labs invert food and JBL korall fluid to the mix, I've dropped the Zooplanktos-S, mainly due to cost and it didn't seem to be the right particle size anyway.

So I'm now feeding a mix of:
Golden pearls 50 micron
Diatom paste
Reef Blizzard-O
Korall fluid
NT labs invert food

The FS is still getting the fallout from my homebrew food too.

I have upped the biopearls again and been changing out Rowaphos every week. I haven't changed my WC 'routine' which is about 75 litres of NSW whenever I can get to collect, usually every couple of weeks. In terms of % volume that's very low, it's a 1200 litre tank.

No3 has hiked up a little to about 15ppm but po4 has remained stable at undetectable on salifert.

Overall, seems pretty sustainable work wise... No smell... happy wife and seemingly ok FS.

 

[Gweeds1980]

Best pics I could get!! Can see it far better in person, but so difficult to capture on a phone camera...

 

[reef lover]

Following along glad to see him still doing well....

 

[mort]

If you don't have much space take a look at the poly boxes for posting mugs. I used one of these and they are small and have a convenient cup shape built into them.

Glad it's doing well.

 

[keddre]

How's the star doing?